Abstract
The University of Central Florida invention is a method for using a non-radioactive tracer to quantify the wear of a grinding medium while mechanically milling ceramic powders. The fabrication route of many materials, particularly glass and ceramics, requires the mixing of precursor powders followed by a ball milling process to ensure deagglomeration, intimate mixing, or satisfactory particle size. This invention relies on doping a commercially available grinding medium by high-temperature diffusion with species (for example, Cr3+, Eu3+, Fe3+) that can easily be quantified by modern analytical techniques. The total amount of tracer in the grinding medium after doping can be measured (in the form of a diffusion profile) via a surface-sensitive chemical analysis technique and provides a way to calculate the wear that each ball experienced.
Benefit
Accurately and quantitatively determines the amount of trace impurities introduced during the ball/attrition milling processReduces the time necessary to optimize the milling processProvides a means for increasing product qualityMarket Application
Chemical/material processing for glass and ceramic
Brochure
